TORONTO - The use of human
tissue during surgery is putting Canadians at risk of contracting
brain-wasting
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, researchers say.

What has them concerned is a patch of tissue called dura
matter, taken from human cadavers and used to seal incisions during brain
surgery.

"We estimate that probably somewhere between two
and 400 grafts per year are used in Canada," says Richard Moulton
of the Canadian Neurosurgical Society.

Moulton says his group believes the tissue patch should
be banned to reduce the risk of accidental transmission of CJD.

Human dura matter is believed to have caused more than
114 cases of CJD worldwide, including four in Canada.

At age three, Dominique Roy-Regimbald underwent surgery
in Montreal to remove a brain tumor. To repair the brain membrane, doctors
used a Lyodura patch made in Germany.

Dr. Neil Cashman

Dominique's family believes the patch carried the
infectious
agent that caused him to develop CJD. He died of the disease in 1999, at
age 14. Health Canada had warned hospitals of the risk one year before
Dominique's surgery.

"There are people in Canada who have received it
after the warning," says Dr. Neil Cashman, a CJD researcher at the
University of Toronto.